Steven Rushingwind & the Native Groove

International Two Time Native American Music Award Winner, Three New Mexico Music Award Winner, Four-Time Indian Summer Award Winner, One World Music Award Winner and Three-Time Finalist at the Indigenous Music Awards, Steven Rushingwind, Native Flute Musician has been playing Native Flute for eleven years. His music is defined as Native American, World Beat, and Native Fusion. Steven was a finalist at the Indigenous Music Awards for “Best Indigenous Entertainer of the Year” 2015 and nominated for Artist of the Year at the 2016 Native American Music Awards.

Steven, a California Native, raised in a small house with one bathroom and a large family in south Pomona, a city 25 miles east of Los Angles, always had a passion for music. His family couldn’t afford musical instruments nor lessons although Steven longed to express himself musically. His father, full-blooded Opata, and Cahuilla and his mother from Chihuahua Mexico maintained a solid tight family and those bonds remain today.

Steven’s newest release “FUEGO” recorded with his band, The Native Groove was released in February of 2017. He wraps his Native American roots up with his Mexican roots to produce a Latin-American fusion sound that has you toe-tapping and twirling. The band sequestered themselves in El Cerrito Studio in San Francisco for three days and recorded the killer album.

“Nordic Passage” was a collaboration between Age Reite, a well know Norwegian musician and himself. The album intertwines the Native Sounds with Norwegian contemporary. RED BEATEN PATH, was produced by Harlan Steinberger from Hen House Studios, in Venice, CA and mastered by Bernie Grundman Mastering Studios. Red Beaten Path honors the Native American strife and blessings of the path that the Native Americans have taken. This album was a finalist for the Best Flute CD at the Indigenous Music Awards in Canada in 2015.

Steven joined forces with Nelson Rios (Miami Sound Machine’s percussionist for 20 years) and formed Rushingwind & The Native Groove. The Groove consists of musicians from the East and West coast. The Native Groove had the honor of performing for the Sunwatch Flute Festival, Aboriginal People’s Choice Awards in Winnipeg, Manitoba in September of 2014, Native Rhythms Festival, Melbourne Florida, Los Angeles Arboretum, The Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden and Sacred Fire Studios in Philadelphia PA.

Steven is also half of the duo “Rushingwind and Mucklow.” He and Michael Mucklow of Joshua Tree, CA, got together and started writing songs together in 2009. The duo has won and has been nominated for numerous awards nationally and internationally. Rushingwind and Mucklow were awarded Best New Age Recording for Rushingwind and Mucklow’s album BRIDGE at the 15th Annual Native American Music Awards, held November 15, 2014, at the Seneca Casino in Allegany, New York. The Rushingwind and Mucklow album, STRONG HORSE, was nominated for numerous awards during 2014.

A graduate of Empire State College with a dual major in journalism and Latin American studies, Tomas Peña has spent years applying his knowledge and writing skills to the promotion of great musicians. A specialist in the crossroads between jazz and Latin music, Peña has written extensively on the subject.